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"360 Rotational Fire": A Call to Rep. Obey to Halt War Funding Until Investigation

By Ralph Lopez - Posted on 18 June 2010

If even a small fraction of what former Bravo Company 2-16 soldier Ethan McCord is saying is true, that orders were given at a battalion level in Iraq for "360 rotational fire" against civilians in order to "kill every motherf**ker in the street," upon being hit by an IED, then it is incumbent upon Congress to investigate a possible war crime which far surpasses errant bombs or overzealous individual soldiers in the heat of battle. This is the mass execution of civilians. Further funding for the wars, presently being courageously stalled in the House Appropriations Committee by Chairman David Obey for other reasons, should be withheld until a full report, including subpoenaed witnesses, has been made to full House and Senate. Halted funds should not include civilian assistance. McCord has reported to the World Socialist News Website the implementation of an order for "360 rotational fire" in 2007 by a battalion commander as a new "SOP" (standard operating procedure.) McCord states in the April 2010 interview:

"we had a pretty gung-ho commander, who decided that because we were getting hit by IEDs a lot, there would be a new battalion SOP [standard operating procedure]. He goes, "If someone in your line gets hit with an IED, 360 rotational fire. You kill every motherfucker on the street." Myself and Josh and a lot of other soldiers were just sitting there looking at each other like, "Are you kidding me? You want us to kill women and children on the street?" And you couldn’t just disobey orders to shoot, because they could just make your life hell in Iraq. So like with myself, I would shoot up into the roof of a building instead of down on the ground toward civilians. But I’ve seen it many times, where people are just walking down the street and an IED goes off and the troops open fire and kill them."

Mass execution of civilians in retaliation for an attack on forces has been already prosecuted in the context of international law. In 1944 German SS Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler ordered the mass execution of civilians, prisoners of war, civilian prisoners, and a number of Jews, in the ratio of 10 to 1, ten executions for every German soldier killed in a March 1944 attack by Italian partisans. The executions were carried out in the caves of Ardeatine outside of Rome. After the war Kappler stood trial for war crimes and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ethan McCord is one of the soldiers seen in the now-famous Wikileaks video in which two American Apache helicopters fire upon a group of men standing on a street corner in Baghdad. He is seen in the video helping two wounded children after the attack, and has subsequently has stepped forward with open opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He and Josh Stieber have written in their OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE:

We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "god and country". The soldier in the video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us. More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.... With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones.

Since publication of the letter McCord and Stieber have learned that the widow of a man killed in the attack, who is mother of the wounded children, has forgiven them. The husband was found with his body attempting to shield that of one of his children.

"I was the gung-ho soldier. I thought I was going over there to do the greater good. I thought my job over there was to protect the Iraqi people and that this was a job with honor and courage and duty. I was hit by an IED within two weeks of my being in Iraq. And I didn’t understand why people were throwing rocks at us, why I was being shot at and why we’re being blown up, when I have it in my head that I was here to help these people."

McCord says the scenes captured in the Wikileaks video are "an every-day occurrence in Iraq." McCord says that when he found the two children wounded in the van, another soldier began to vomit and ran off. Then he recounts:

"That’s when I saw the boy move with what appeared to be a labored breath. So I stated screaming, “The boy’s alive.” I grabbed him and cradled him in my arms and kept telling him, “Don’t die, don’t die.” He opened his eyes, looked up at me. I told him, “It’s OK, I have you.” His eyes rolled back into his head, and I kept telling him, “It’s OK, I’ve got you.” I ran up to the Bradley and placed him inside. My platoon leader was standing there at the time, and he yelled at me for doing what I did. He told me to “stop worrying about these motherfucking kids and start worrying about pulling security.” So after that I went up and pulled security on a rooftop.

McCord says about his mental state afterwards:

"I went to see a staff sergeant who was in my chain of command and told him I needed to see mental health about what was going on in my head. He told me to “quit being a pussy” and to “suck it up and be a soldier.” He told me that if I wanted to go to mental health, there would be repercussions, one of them being labeled a “malingerer,” which is actually a crime in the US Army."

If McCord's allegations of an order for a standard operating procedure of "360 rotational fire" against civilians are true, this far surpasses battlefield negligence, accident, or even over-zealousness in the heat of battle. As a battalion consists of anywhere from four to six companies, that order would have been handed down to dozens of platoons and up to 1,000 men. The killings which McCord says he witnessed would have been egregious, systematic, and calculated. The order would dishonor the sacrifices of over 5,000 Americans, and undo all that many well-meaning soldiers have been trying to accomplish in Iraq.

The only proper remedy is to halt funding for the wars being waged by our government immediately, to convey to the world how seriously these kinds of allegations are taken by Americans, and to rise as a nation to the standard of moral clarity now set by the young soldiers Josh Stieber and Ethan McCord. This may perhaps undo some small part of the grave and lasting damage which may have been done to our national prestige, our national image, and our national security if these allegations are true.

Please take time today or this weekend to call Rep. David Obey, who began his long career as a maverick congressman who helped stop the Vietnam War, and who recently announced his retirement, to ask him to place a halt on further war funding, excluding funding for civilian assistance, until a resolution on this matter is reached. The number for Chairman Obey's office during business hours is (202) 225-3365. After hours and over the weekend a voicemail can be left at the number for his district office (715) 842-5606

This evidence of a high-level international war crime has been forwarded to the following Congressional offices: Rep. David Obey, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Russ Feingold.

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